Initially the idea seems sensible, you’re in control of the way your business runs and able to make those decisions in the past that you inherited through business practices written in stone they were that old. In past companies the paper trail of the company has been more akin to snowflakes than requirements. I identified a few areas I thought I could use as my starting blocks to achieving a more ‘green’ approach to my business practice.

The successes and partial successes

Most of these are fairly obvious but I thought I’d write about my experiences here. It’s been months since I actually even had to use a stamp or print anything out. My printer actually sits unplugged in as it’s simply not used anymore.

• Studio heated using wood burner
• Paperless business: this ranges from invoicing through to contracts.
• Paperless accounting.
• Digital resources: rather than printed magazines I’ve turned to use digital versions.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these points and I’ll explain some of the hurdles as there certainly were some and things still aren’t perfect on all fronts.

Natural heating

This perhaps is one of the single best things I could have done beyond most other things. When we moved to our new property we were lucky enough to have in the studio space a wood burner. I can’t sign it’s praises enough both as a green option and life enhancing choice. I think it’s fairly simple to see how it’s ‘greener’ than our oil central heating or even electrical, but the bit I didn’t think about was the actual emotional and inspirational impact of a burning fire in the room. The UK quite frankly is various shades of grey for the winter months and having a wood burning stove in the room really lifts you. It may be monotone outside but I’m snuggly and warm and noticed it really helps inspiration wise. We’re lucky as have a free supply of wood so this could become expensive and have ‘green’ costs in sense of fuel delivery if that option wasn’t there. Another great use for our wood burner is paper isn’t needed to be shredded anymore we just put it on the fire (of course you can’t burn plastics) – something very therapeutic to setting fire to old bills.

Paperless office

It’s now close to over a year since any quote or invoice came from my business in a non PDF format. I encourage clients to not print out however I can’t control what happens their end. This has worked out well for me and is something that quite simply I can’t even think about changing back to.

Paperless contracts sound fairly simple in practice it’s not, the problem though is getting clients to adopt this method too. I spent the first year implementing this frequently sending with the contract emails a little how to for this however it was on the whole ignored. I’ve been considering various services that allow digital signatures however so far yet to explore this to the full focus it really requires.

Paperless accounting

This isn’t specifically something I did as much as a natural thing we all do now. It really kicked in for me about 6 months ago when we didn’t have a car for a month and a bit. The last bit of paper banking was some clients still paying by cheque, as I couldn’t even get to a bank without quite the hike I finally had an excuse to train the last dinosaur client into using BACS payments. I noticed the other day that NatWest now have an iPhone application and I’m hopeful that my bank HSBC won’t be far off as this really is something that would benefit me. Whilst paperless banking works I personally won’t access it unless I own that device and using the browser through the iPhone is a case of too much information on too small a screen with regards to my banking interface. My bank uses a dongle to connect for security so it’s a lot more secure than some I’ve seen, but cautious nature is always best with online banking.

The biggest fight for me with regards to online banking was statements. It took months to despite ticking the ‘do not send’ box get my bank to stop sending me statements – they still do on my ISA. My mind boggles how hard this process was for me and I can only hope that I just was a slip through the net on this and that everyone trying to take a paperless approach to banking doesn’t have to go through this hoop.

Digital resources and magazines

There was a time each month I’d end up adding 4-6 small trees to my already large wood collection of magazines. I still have a few shelves of these but for a while now unless it’s got a digital version I simply don’t get that magazine. It really was brought home to me our last move when I had 3 boxes just of magazines. Digital magazines are far easier to search, get information and even grab articles from so aside from the ‘green’ element really are a far superior method for me. Downside is Ikea maybe won’t get me buying a new bookcase this year. I also now tend to use far more blogs and my RSS feeder subscriptions probably count for 50% of my new information that in past I would have got from magazines only 2-3 years ago.

The failures

One major area so far I’ve failed in is moving from moleskins to a digital sketch book. It simply hasn’t worked for me so far and I always fall back on using the moleskin. It’s one area I’m really keen to progress with. I use a digital scrapbook so I’m slowly getting there. At this point I’m convinced it’s more of habit than anything else. There is something about sitting mapping out stuff and sketching in the moleskin. Perhaps it’s just I’ve not found the right tool for it digitally, however I don’t think that’s quite it. To move onto a purely digital process for my projects this really is the last major stepping stone I need to get over.

The must do betters

I have aside from the note failures 2 key areas I want to focus on in 2010. For me, this ‘green’ approach is one that should evolve and has taken time. I find change rests far easier with me if I adopt it piece by piece rather than going insane right at the start. Quite frankly time also hasn’t allowed for everything to be implemented at once.

• Goal to have all books digital
• Goal to ditch all old notebooks and folders

Out with the physical library in with the digital book age

This perhaps is one of the biggest hurdles and will reap the biggest effect on my life. As I write this to my right are two long bookcases, to my left and behind me is another large modular bookcase. It’s my goal to if possible by the end of 2010 or if not as soon as I can, to have every book I own and will own from that point purely in a digital format. The kindle is now available in the UK but I’m still undecided on which option I will go for regarding the device that will serve these books. I also have to research into getting some back copies of some treasured if a little old books. I do however look forward to the day I can either get rid of the bookcases or at least not feel quite like I should open for business as a library.

Ditch the notebooks take two: dealing with the back log

This point links into the massive failure to cut the umbilical cord of the moleskin from my life. Whilst by my nature I am not really a hoarder with regards to notes and information I am queen of the ‘don’t throw away in case’. I must have been a squirrel in my past life the way I clutch onto notebooks. I have almost every note taken during any course I have ever taken – to illustrate the absurdity of this I last took a course nearly a decade ago. I have shelves and books full of these antiquated notes. From my long past writing days I have about 3 incomplete novels and enough poems to make a poet drown, all stored on shelves and in boxes having not seen the light of day for years apart from being moved from one house to another. I plan to slowly type up or scan (not decided which is best method to do yet) so at least I can have digital copies that can collect virtual dust. A probably more merciless person would say ‘throw out’ but part of me clings to those first pieces of code I wrote during my Software Engineering days. This is probably the part of me that if allowed to would enjoy a romantic comedy. It’s going to be more of a project than the great scanning of photographs of 2007 I undertook but one I think will be really worthwhile.

I am aware that most of the going green I have done is small in it’s nature. This however is also about digitising my life fully and started when I decided to have a mass scanning in of all my photographs – I no longer have any photo albums that are not digital and only a few photos in frames in the house. It’s a process I’m constantly looking at tweaking and for better methods.

So what is Google Wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when. A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
- From Google Wave’s about page

Not just noise but a chance to interact

As I’ve said my first impressions weren’t great, it all seemed a lot of noise without much direction. Google on it’s site explains when to use Wave and highlights group projects, photo sharing, meeting notes, brainstorming and interactive games. There are 3 parts of that which have finally dropped into how I think Wave will fit into my life as a freelancer: group projects, meeting notes and brainstorming. Whilst using it I thought ‘what if clients were using this’.

The problem with clients solved with Wave

One of the key issues with any project I work with a client on is collaboration. In the past I’ve tried a range of tools and currently have a good working process but I can see how Wave could add to this and replace some things I already use. I’ve found in many of these tools the ‘real time’ idea generation side lacking. The 3 key points that have caused hitches with any process have been: accessibility, cost and integration. How does Wave solve these?

Accessibility

The learning curve of wave certainly initially is relatively high however that seems to be more due to a general ‘now what do we do with it’ more than anything else. It’s also a once learnt can apply just like any system in truth however the versatility that I will cover later is what will be the key to any training being only needed once. Unlike a lot of other systems too it’s not down my possession of the service once has a Wave invite will in fact become in control of Wave and able to use for their own business themselves. This is something I really like by introducing clients to Wave they can themselves discover and find out how they can use it aside from with me. I love the idea of not only it benefiting our relationship but their own with others. Another side of accessibility is one that all services I use with my clients have to fall into and that is an ability to get online. Wave certainly fits this although I will note that currently it seems to fail a bit in firefox, Chrome seems the browser of choice for it to work on with Internet Explorer having to have a ‘work around’, however it’s still in beta and I’m finding a large proportion of the clients I’d use this for already using Chrome.

Cost

I am not against paying for a monthly charge for a system in fact I have several subscriptions that I pay for services that bolster my business. However, the chance to reduce one is definitely a draw. Cost though is not simply a subscription charge. If the client or myself has to actually spend time to use the service aside from the normal working flow then that is a cost of time. Wave whilst I’ve already identified needs some training to use has a rather minimal cost. Also the longevity of the product or at least potential longevity is a key. Whilst it’s all well and good using a service that seems perfect at the time I’ve been caught before in the trap of it being discontinued due to the company folding or the services development costs being unable to be kept up with and the project falling into a pit of bugs as ignored. Wave I am fairly convinced isn’t going to (although at this point I can’t really comment) by a ‘flash in a pan’ service and my hope is just like other Google services it sees work done on it and constantly evolves rather than stagnates.

Integration

With regards to this area it is a multifaceted issue. Aside from how will it fit into my process I have to think 2 things: ‘how common is this service’ and how likely are clients to use it. I know of a lot of clients using Google Docs and GMail so the stretch to use Google Mail really isn’t a large leap. By this simply being a Google service likelihood of users actually using is increased as they for the majority already use Google services to some extent. Familiarity is key when introducing something into a working process where you can’t say who will be using the system in the future. The Wave interface itself is familar to any that use Google’s services in it’s most basic sense. By it’s very nature of being a Google service it removes the fragmentation that comes from using yet another service. Like it or not there is also a client trust around anything to do with Google (many may debate this point but that is for another time).

How I plan to use Google Wave

Currently I can see it being used during design and conception processes. I can see it potentially being used as a design sign off tool which would actually be a really good method of use I think. I could show a client a design, get their comments on adjustments, submit it again and all in one wave. The same can be said for project specifications I can see how an application can be mapped out and discussed all in one wave. These currently are the 2 primary reasons I can see from my work point of view that wave can be used. I am think onto how I can integrate my already wide use of Google Docs to link in with Wave. I also however have plans for some future projects like a collaborative blog which I can see Wave fitting well into. I am sure there can be many other applications but these currently are the main ones I can see it being used for.

Time will tell proof of the conceptual pudding

A lot of this is use for Google Wave is theory until I can get clients onto the system through hopefully Google doing what they did with GMail and invites being able to be sent out from those with accounts. I then need to sell this to a few test clients initially and see a real world working for Wave. I have already started using for internal things just need all members of Logical Binary to be using it to get the full view of what truly is possible. It really is a case of time will tell but I can certainly see how it can be used and that’s something that truly excites me. I look forward to seeing what is also developed to compliment Wave by the already strong development community, often it’s from there the true sparks come.

In the United States, there were 216,000 cases of invasive breast cancer and 40,000 deaths in 2004. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer (10.4% of all cancer incidence, both sexes counted) and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. In 2004, breast cancer caused 519,000 deaths worldwide (7% of cancer deaths; almost 1% of all deaths). – Wikipedia

Turning your site pink does what?

By going pink you raise awareness and open talking points around breast cancer. It’s something that should be at the forefront of people’s minds and by going pink during October awareness is raised along with through various methods of donating on Pink for October some funds to research methods of combating. I also encourage you to check out Boobiethon as another way you can donate and participate.

So what are you waiting for? Tis the season to go pink.

With the return though I’m firing on many cylinders and bringing a new design to this blog. The new design marks a new start in this blog and gives me the incentive I needed to get back to the keyboard and writing. I’m not quite in a place yet that can guarantee a schedule writing on this blog but I am going to commit to at least a weekly post hopefully more.

Life is funny I’ve come to believe and come to really value the small things like getting up in the morning and the sun shining. Through out the icky months though I kept working which I feel blessed over considering the economical climate. Whilst I’m still not out of the woods it’s time to bring back the missing parts of my life that were my digital interactions. So lets raise a coffee cup to getting back to a digital coffee break and the resurrection of Diary of a website. To those that stuck with me through the lack of updates I cheer you and hope you can understand there were reasons for the black out. Here’s to the return of the mojo and Diary of a website.

Note: Things may look a bit odd around here this weekend as I’m applying the redesign so please bare with me while the bugs are whacked and things come into place.

Syncing is the way to ease

Whilst I was using the desktop version of Things this worked well but over time I was turning more and more to using my iPhone as my ‘offline’ device. I carry it with me everywhere and even use it as my alarm. I don’t have computers in my bedroom (I like to have a non technology space where I can just sleep) and I’m one of those ‘brain dump’ at night kind of people – always seems just as I’m going to sleep I get ideas I just have to get down. I’ve lost count of the amount of times something to do or the like has popped into my head just before I go to bed. I was using ical for this but it didn’t match my desktop environment of my now Things dependency. Enter the Things iPhone application. I’ve been using this now for a while and it syncs across the key environments I work in perfectly. I’m able to neatly control my tasks and all with the same easy and interface on both – a possibly perfect world.

Lazy task management is the only way it should be

Through my journey with using other task managers often the learning curve to even get started seems not worth the effort. I want to manage my tasks because I’ve got a lot on or need to simplify my life… so why should it be so complicated? Things is perfect in this sense. I can complicate with tags, projects and areas or as is the case often with my Things set up I can simply have a set list of tasks to do today, next or schedule. I love the next section which allows me to have a dumping ground for if by some fluke of nature I end up clearing my tasks for the day. Things to me is a perfect illustration of a complex idea done simply. You can make it as complex as you want which to me is another attraction of this application – it doesn’t have a learning curve and doesn’t penalise you for just wanting a simple list. Should you delve deeper there are more complex variations but on the surface you can just start it and get going straight away with no set up at all.

The way I use Things now is to at night just before down time set up the tasks for the next day and once a week on Sunday for the week. As I progress through the day I can add to this list, but it means I start every morning with a nice clear list to follow and work through. I can get up in the morning sync my iPhone Things application and get straight down to it. I’d love if this process was more automatic but it does work well even though I have to have Things open on my iPhone to get the sync working. Things fits perfectly in my schedule and I’m so happy to have finally settle on a single package that does it all for me in the simple ease Things does. It only goes to prove the old theory of the simplest is often the best.

• Clock
• Pantone bag
• Pantone mug
• Carpenter blocks
• Pantone cuff links
• Chocolate pie chart
• Mood wall lamp
• Funky usb character flash drive
• USB wooden drive
• Sun jar
• Robot pencil sharpener

In the past on this blog I’ve had sections for inspiration both web designs and colour and also run 2 flickr groups dedicated to web and colour inspiration. I’ve had a slight change now and with the enjoyment and ease of use I’ve got through having a tumblr blog for Espresso I’ve set up 2 more tumblr blogs dedicated to inspiration.

Webspiration

Webspiration is going to be a mixture of showcase sites to go to, screenshots (also on my flickr group webspiration which you can contribute to) all in the lovely form of a tumblr blog. I’m probably going to add a dash of code snippets and techniques in there as links from del.icio.us which I use for all my bookmarking.

Colourspiration

Colourspiration is the colour equal to webspiration. Again, this will have palettes, colour related imagery, techniques even articles and posts from my colourspiration flickr group.

With these 2 news sites also comes a change of colour scheme on this blog. Pink for October is over for another year and I’ve gone to the original colours designed for this blog. As you will see it’s a very similar branding now to Logical Binary (my company) which was the desired effect as this becomes more and more linked to Logical Binary rather than a separate entity.

I’d like to invite you if you’ve not done before to sign up on flickr for webspiration and colourspiration. I plan to be featuring user uploads on the new tumblr blogs along with new content you won’t see in the flickr group. You can subscribe via RSS to both tumblr blogs with these links: colourspiration rss webspiration rss. I’ve got some ideas of how I want to build on both webspiration and colourspiration over the next coming months so expect to see a fair amount of activity going on. I’m also going to be doing weekly or maybe monthly (not decided yet) updates on this blog from both these tunblrs.

Over the years work becomes a larger beast and your personal project time can easily go down the back of the sofa. I have found myself recently putting off too many personal projects, this was something I knew had to change if I was going to avoid the mental stagnation I felt creeping in.

Ground zero your blog

If as a designer or developer you aren’t maintaining some form of blog I to be frank would be puzzled. Not only is it a great publicity tool but it’s also your own playground. At the start this blog ran on my own cms and later blogging system once this whole blogging thing had a name. This was how I learned to write a cms and blogging engine. I moved onto word press after a while for many reasons, but the point though is through this blog I learnt how to code some significant things I’ve used over and over again in client work. Design limits are also raised in your own space so it’s essential to allow you the freedom to explore and play. I see your blog as ground zero or the first thing you should do as a personal project. This is your space online where you can have the freedom you often don’t have in client work or even on your portfolio website.

Would I miss 4 hours a week?

As part of my drive to get back into personal projects I’ve decided to put back 1/2 a day a week where I work on personal projects. I’ve been doing this for about a month now and turns out I didn’t miss that time at all. I’ve read a lot about ‘4 day weeks’ and although I think being able to do that is quite a long way off (try a different universe), I found I could manage to grasp back 4 hours a week without sending my work schedule off. The problem I’ve been faced with whilst starting this has been ‘when’. I’ve become more and more aware that this time needs just like client work to be at a fixed point and you can’t just put it down for ‘when free’ – you do that you will never do it as it’s easy to never be free.

From small seeds grow large things but you’ve got to plant seeds

In this times where all you hear about is the ‘credit crunch’ and voices of financial doom, it’s nice to look at alternative revenues and just ‘do’. You never know from those personal projects could grow something. I don’t think though this should ever be the core motivation from personal work. The ‘gains’ you can get aren’t in personal work all about financial ones. Maybe you learn a new technique, maybe you do build a fun application.. whatever it is this should be done as exploration and with the emphasis on enjoyment rather than cold hard cash results.

I think the hardest thing is the ‘doing’ of personal work. It’s all too easy to see the hours and what client work you can cram into this. It’s harder to take some time and see no direct ‘money in the bank’ from it. Over the years as a freelancer you focus on project after project and it becomes very much the same story over and over again. After going back to personal projects I’m finding myself rejuvenated for want of a better word about the web. It’s all too easy to get into a rut designing or developing. By not limiting yourself you can explore and grow. I’ve always said the day I stop growing is the day I should be giving up and for a while I’d forgotten that.

Design by committee?

Design by committee is where you have more than the usual single client, it usually refers to numerous people having input over the design process and dealing with those varying and multiple opinions on what the design should be. Design by committee can all too often become a ‘too many cooks’ situation where spoons are a rare commodity. Loosely applied most projects probably are to an extent design by committee as often a client will show it to other people or it’s a company where you may have a single point of contact but numerous departments and people will input into a situation. What I’m referring to are situations where there is no clear single point of contact and you’re dealing with numerous voices whilst trying to come up with a comprehensive design.

Lay strong foundations

Before you even start to design there are a number of things you can do to ensure that all voices are heard from the start and they are not all shouting at once. These methods are all designed to narrow the field and create a focus from the start for the project.

• Have a design question form: I use Wufoo with a set series of questions that I always hand out to all clients. Some example questions I include are what colours they would like and what styles they like. I make sure to have ‘like’ and ‘don’t like’ for every question asked – often the don’t like are more telling than the like responses.
• Offer examples: Along with the form I make sure that I also include some examples of websites or whatever design work I am doing. This allows a starting point for what the clients like or don’t like and I have a space on the wufoo form for responses to this.
• Factor time in for revisions: Make sure you lay down from the start how many revisions are included in the price and stick to it. If you are going to give endless revisions you will end up with an endless headache. It’s often a good idea to state an hourly or additional cost for revisions over the set figure just incase.
• Get design sign offs: One of the most important things is to get the design signed off to avoid changes during the development of the work. Sign offs should be as final as you can make them. Don’t be afraid to charge for changes after a sign off.
• Try and create a point of contact: If possible try and find a point of contact amongst the voices. This isn’t always possible, but usually one chief ‘cook’ stands out who can be your point of contact.

Flexibility doesn’t mean being taken advantage of

Whilst as a designer you have to be flexible in your client responses you have to juggle this with endless revisions and projects spiralling out of control beyond the original design concept. Try not to loose sight of the fact that you are the designer and you are meant to filter and apply the client needs not respond to every request. I don’t say this in a ‘designers know best’ mind set, I say this in the sense you are being hired as a designer and based on your experience you should advise and guide the project. Trust your instincts and experience, if something is not going to work don’t be afraid to say this.

Become a filter: Listen but don’t act to everything

One of the key points to managing with design by committee is by being a filter to requests. You will probably have a list longer than a family weekly shopping list of things that people want, like and don’t like during the process. It may sound harsh but in situations where it you are faced with design by committee you will simply be unable to act to everything they are asking for. I’ve said it before but you are being hired as the designer so you should use your experience to interpret and filter requests. Consider each one individually and use your skills to decide whether they should be implemented.

Take time and don’t get swamped

Above all design by committee should be met with a calm frame of mind and patience. It’s a hard process and in an ideal world you would not be experiencing it, things aren’t always ideal though. By laying down a few ground rules and processes though you can sort the noise out and focus the project from the start to get a better end result.

Turn yourself pink

I always enjoy seeing the different variations on ‘pink’ that people turn their sites and I’d love to hear in the comments if any of you are going pink this year. It’s a great cause that needs to have more focus and it’s a great way of not only refreshing your blog design but showing support. Even if you don’t turn your site pink there are a range of other ways on the Pink for October site you can join in by donating, adding a button to your site or even contributing an article.

Pink marks a change in branding

I’m still working out a few kinks around here but have the first stage up of my complete re-branding of both this blog and also Logical Binary (only one page currently more coming over the next week). I’m going to write a post once the dust and prodding has settled on both sites about why I’ve chosen this direction and the process I went through. The main catalyst though was to get a consistent branding across both this blog and my company site and bring the blog into a more active element of Logical Binary rather than having them as separate entities. I hope you like the new direction. Espresso the Diary of a website tumblr blog has also had a redesign and is still a good place to get a usually daily shot of posting.

Farewell woofbarkwag

As part of all these changes I’m also stopping posting on Woofbarkwag. Whilst it’s been great running that blog for a few years now the time has come to focus what oddly little time I seem to have lately onto this blog and some other new things and I’m afraid that means Woofbarkwag is a bit of a casualty of that in being closed down. I’m going to leave it up and do a closing down post soon but it’s already left 9rules and apart from my last post there won’t see anymore updates. Whilst shutting down a site is not always a good thing this time I think it is as I simply wasn’t doing it justice and it was distracting from updating other sites. I’m really happy about the choice I’ve made and look to the future with this blog.